Love Life Music

January 3rd, 2009 – Following yesterday’s post where I said that I could always use more processing power when I mix, I’ve been thinking of building a hackintosh. For those of you who don’t know what a hackintosh is, it’s a PC that is running a hacked BIOS that allows it to run Apple’s OSX operating system.

Why would someone want that? Well for people like you and I, it means that we can run Logic Pro, which only is available for OSX, on PC hardware. This greatly reduces the costs of simply running the software. Technically this is a legal grey area, so if you do decide to run a hackintosh, it’s at your own discretion.

Personally the physical design of Apple products is a secondary consideration. While good looking hardware is a nice perk, what really makes me like Apple products is the operating system. I like OSX, and I’m familiar with Logic but I currently own two pieces of Apple hardware and can’t really justify paying the price differential for more shiny boxes. Lately, I have been on the look out for more processing power and have been thinking more and more of the hackintosh solution. Generic hardware prices, premium operating system. I already have full Logic and OSX install discs from my other computers so the software side is nice and cinched.

A nicely spec’d hackintosh tower can run around $800, while the Mac Pro I’d be imitating could cost almost five thousand dollars. That’s quite a savings for a computer which would be my processing workhorse. One thing I’m unsure of is how well hackintoshes run Logic. Most articles I’ve read seem to just be pleased to be running OSX at all, let alone benchmarking music software. An acquaintance of mine built his own hackintosh and has Logic installed, but wasn’t running genuine software, so when Logic updated, it kept asking for the software key. I didn’t get to see how it ran on his computer which is a pity since he has an Apogee Duet, which is what I want to run as well.

Have any of you run music software, Logic or otherwise, on a hackintosh? What kind of performance have you been seeing? Do any of you have an EFI-X dongled hackintosh install?

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Laurent says:March 4, 2009

Hello,

I am running a quadcore Hackintosh, RME Multiface V1 (yes the one with the PCI interface and it works …). Logic, Ableton and Reaper are my main DAWs and there is absolutely no problem running them with low latency, when necessary, on my H.

Caveats: It took a bit to sort out the drivers. Patience is definitely needed. It’s recommended not to just click Software Update blindly as that can tank your machine. Read up on the forums before updating even manually.

All in all, I’m loving it. (I own a macbook, and extra legal copy of SnowLeopard CD and ignore incorrect EULA’s)

Dave says:December 12, 2009

Oh yes, I forgot to mention… Sometimes the Protection Authentication will not work on a Hackintosh.

Example:

Korg Legacy Analog and Korg Legacy Digital Edition will not work as the information the code passes are all zeroes and you can’t get a serial generated.

Please note I’m running 10.SIX.2, and it hasn’t worked so I doubt it would work any differently for 10.5.x of any sort on a Hackintosh.

Authentication of this sort (code / counter code) generally works like this:

They get a number/code calculated from perhaps various hardware areas – Hard Drive ID, Network MAC Address, perhaps motherboard serial number or the like. That number is the code.

In the real world, you would authenticate online or by phone/fax. You would hand over that number. The company/system would calculate a countercode from that and send you the countercode which matches the math and encryption.

Here’s the issue: Hackintosh drivers don’t always have the information to read the needed info from. And so, the program goes, reads, gets basically a blank or out of range and gives you zeroes.
The only fix would be more correct drivers and motherboard emulations being written.

zaora says:December 21, 2009

dave; for me i solved ;you have to use effistudio et osx86tool and korg legzcy is running by

DAVE says:December 21, 2009

@Zaora: Cool that you got it working that way, it basically makes some devices (net/audio/video) work without external drivers and so, may have allowed the authentication method to correctly link to the needed info. Sadly on my motherboard my 1000BaseT won’t work without an external driver and so, that is likely why it won’t yet work for me Thankfully I have multiple computers so my Korg licences aren’t wasted.

Donjave says:February 3, 2010

Hi there,
im a audio engineer from India, i want to build a hackintosh to be able to run logic pro 9 im looking for a quad core configuration which works. i have gigabyte p45 motherboards available here, asus and intel motherboards are also available, i want quad core, 8gb ram, 1TB hdd, and a hp multiformat dvd writer and firewire and usb working. PS: IF i can get apogee one usb working in this it would be awesome.. pls help me build a hackintosh for logic pro and all vsts..

sei toine says:February 3, 2010

ok nice to meet you ..a lot off configuration is possible you can see them on osx86.com

when osx is install you havr to run two prog to be realy like a mac for plugs like korg who need this operation to be working..excuse my english …my config is
p5k asus and q6600 it s very easy on this config but other is possible look at the osx86 compatibility config …if i can help you ask mehttp://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.2#Asus
old mother board is better and cheeper
on new mother board it s not tested
what sort off music do you produce?
by

Donjave says:February 5, 2010

@sei tone

Thank you for replying, i am from india so most of the motherboards here are not available or out of stock which sucks, and i do not restrict myself to genres, i can say soundtrack, rock, pop, blues, i have the gigabyte, asus, and intel motherboards, and since a mac costs 2times the price in usa and uk its almost impossible to buy that.. so if you can tell me any config which works so i can upgrade my hardware later… it would be great

Sei Toine says:February 5, 2010

ok so you v to watch the different config on osx89project .com there is a lot off and
it dippends the version off osx…
you wan to instal`
me i am on asus p5k
and kaliway10,,5,2
it s very easy realy
you can by mother board for 40 dollard
and you can check the compatibility of your mother boards and the version of osxinstaler you v to download
i produce ,,
techno or club tunes but i m not sound engeener ..may be you can help mehttp://www.myspace.com/djceruliz
here you can listen
one track
i work hard and havr probleme to mix low frequency
can i explain to you my mixage config
and you tell me what could be better for me
…for your hackintosh
if you dont find request to your answer tell me the reference exactly off your mother buards
by

Donjave says:February 6, 2010

@SEI TONIE

thanks a lot man, i’ve been cheking out the configs for a lot of time in osx86 and i cant find a motherboard which works 1005 without any problem.. he may be you can mail me.. we can get in touch in facebook my id is donjave.. i heard your songs its pretty good only thing you have to do is set your lo frequency to 2 or 3 level and it should be fine.. im looking at a lot of motherboards the question which i wanted to ask is can you install anything just like a mac? or you add a sound card you have any problems? how stable is that config

Sei Toine says:February 9, 2010

my config is ok and stabl with motherboard sound card i v no input but outpout 5.1 …whith usbsound card no probleme …with fire wire you v to add a firewire pci card and it s ok …. the difficult thing is to instal osx but when osx is install no problem for musik computer with additionnal xound card if you v a computer just try to install kaliway or other osx install for pc it takes me two days on my pc i didn t know the process like you …today it takes me five minutes …you try and change ide conig in bios and ahci mode to find the bios set up that alow you to install….when it s instal it s donne the problem that will appears is no sound card ..you put an usb…no fire wire ..you put a pci card ..you ve to run soft after the install like onyx effistudio and another one ..it s done
the procees off install have many option and if you don t chek the goods no install ….that s why it s long for the first time …to find the good otion off bios and install choice

thanks a lot mate.. you should set your frequency lower if you have a lot of bass booming and you should check your output in a i pod, mp3 player, car stereo, and a normal music system and adjust the sound according to that, i enquired the market here and have finalized Gaming cabinet Gigabyte EP-45 UD3R, mobo quad core processor hp dvd writer (multi format) gud for music production, 8gb ram, 1tb hard drive, mac computer and mouse, Nvedia 8400 GS graphic card 24 inch monitor, pci firewire card and connect a m audio to firewire. and i think im going to use the 23$upgrade disk since it costs me just 1800 Rs in india, which is cheap.. so if im using firewire i should’nt have any problems rite? if you can mail me at donjave at in dot com

DAVE says:February 11, 2010

For firewire, it’s best to have a card with Texas Instruments chipset on it for best compatibility.

Thanks to all you guys who helped me.. im confused with config and this is what is available in india.. (though i have to buy the apogee from usa)
I have finalized on the following mobo and config Gigabyte EP45 UD3VR
8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, HP DVD WRITER, PCI FIRE WIRE CARD, NVEDIA 8400 GS GRAPHICS CARD GAMING CABINET.24 inch Monitor. i want to run Logic pro 9 and connect a apogee one thru firewire and connect the apogee to the mixing desk, does this config work fine? im going to install Snow leopard 10.5.7 or 8 please suggest me a the best method to get a fully working hackintosh for audio engineering, and how to connect the apogee to a mixer.

DAVE says:March 30, 2010

Came across this useful utility Gigabyte motherboard users can use to simplify the 10.6 install…

@Dave: Thanks for the link! I’m looking at getting the Gigabyte mb as well

DAVE says:April 6, 2010

Furthering the info on using Gigabyte boards, it looks like they’ve *greatly* simplified things with a modded BIOS image for many boards so it natively supports OSX, yet still stays working with linux and windows. This is of course a touchier subject but for some it will make a cleaner hackintosh.

ANYONE RUNNING LOGIC 9 WITH AN APOGEE DUET ON A HACKINTOSH??? WHAT HARDWARE DO I NEED???? I KNO MY BEST BET IS TO JUS BUY A MAC BUT FUCK THAT

Dave says:September 4, 2010

Googling around there are many using it, and some who complain of clicks and pops.. (which I expect is due to *not* using a texas instruments based firewire card) Every device I’ve tested with the hackintosh has worked here. ACP40, firebox, Edirol UA-25EX, novation 25SL MkII, generic drives and hubs…

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